A Palestinian state can only emerge from negotiations

Last week’s British Parliament vote in favor of recognition of a Palestinian state did not help Israeli-Palestinian peace or the two-state solution one bit. In my eyes, it obstructed them.

 

Many of my colleagues from the Left have asked me why I called upon British Labor Party members not to support the vote. A few of them, like Zehava Gal-On, Tal Harris and Avrum Burg (who became completely irrelevant after he became post-Zionist), have even criticized me for the move.

 

My answer was that I did so precisely because I really want to see a Palestinian state prospering next to a secure Israel. After all, none of those on the Left who criticized me really made more of an effort than I did in order to promote the two-state solution over the past couple of years.

 

The Israeli Labor Party, and definitely myself, are fully committed to Palestinian statehood, and we call for it from every podium in Israel and abroad. With all due respect, we don’t have prove it to anyone.

 

Moreover, we do not just say that we want a Palestinian state, we call upon our government to recognize the State of Palestine. Specifically, we think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a mistake when he ordered Israel’s diplomats to vote in the UN General Assembly against granting observer status to the Palestinian state. In the recent party primaries Labor’s current chairperson, MK Isaac Herzog, made precisely this point and said that if he was elected to the position of prime minister he would enact Israeli recognition of Palestinian statehood.

 

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